This week we’ll see the same story of redemption play out, only through the lens of an insider – someone who had power and was in authority, but whose life was just as messy as anyone else’s. On Sunday we’ll look at Zacchaeus. And hopefully we can learn a few lessons from Zacchaeus not just about how we should live, but also about who our God is and how He operates among our mess.

This week we begin our summer series entitled MESSY GRACE.  It is a recognition of the beautiful reality that God is at work in the midst of our messiness.

Over the past number of years I have had the joy of watching several chalk artists do their amazing work.  They begin with a blank black canvas and cast broad strokes of chalk onto this canvas in no seeming order.  Layers upon layers of chalk are added to this work until a beautiful picture begins to emerge and you are left amazed.  But this is not all.  The chalk artists’ then turn on a “black light” to reveal that beneath the surface is another scene of even greater beauty and wonder.  It always takes my breath away.

This week we welcome a very special guest: Rev. Dr. Timothy Brown, President of Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan.  Tim’s wife, Nancy, is traveling with him as well.  Tim has been involved in the training of pastors and church leaders for many years.  His love for Scripture memory and proclaiming the gospel will be evident in this week’s message.  

Reminder – this Sunday we start our summer worship schedule with services at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m.

This week is a very special Sunday.  In our community, students graduate this weekend from our high schools, and we will give thanks for their lives and entrust them to God for their future.  

The message, we hope, will help us get past our “if only’s” in life and see a grander picture of the future God has for us because of Jesus.  Most of us are pretty good at the “if only” game.  “If only I had made that decision differently…” “If only I had been there that evening…”  “If only I could have that one night back…” “If only…”

Summer is almost upon us.  You can begin to feel it with the warmer weather, the longer days and the signs of life sprouting up around us.  Gardens will begin to grow, crops will burst from the ground and a different rhythm of life emerges.  Often it is during this time that we find time to get away to be refreshed, go for walks in the evening, take time to grill outdoors or sit around a firepit with friends and neighbors.  These are all good things and can give us the rest and renewal that is important in life.

This week is a very special week!  Yes, our culture celebrates mothers, and we will thank God for our moms.  But it’s also special for other reasons: we will meet some new members, we will hear the professions of faith of young people, and we will baptize some new children!  Life is springing up all over the place.  Thanks be to God!

And we get to hear an amazing story of how a woman named Mary was favored by God to be the mother of Jesus.  The story will be performed by Abigail McCubbin, as part of NWC’s Drama Ministries Ensemble.  And Elder Michelle Christy will preach the message. 

This weeks story in The Gospel Project for Kids is a little different from most other stories kids hear in Bible study. This week, your kids learned about three entire books of the Bible.

To wrap up this section of Scripture concerning David and his son Solomon, we learned about the poetry and wisdom the Bible offers from Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes.

Our spring worship takes us to five Psalms that paint a picture of God’s people finding joy in the middle of all life gives us.  When we take a step back from our relentless pace, we look back to see God’s goodness to us.  And he is good!  So good, in fact, that if we gaze at how good he is, we will burst with tears of joy.  And that pause, that kind of joy, gets us ready to live into the future God lays out for us.  

This week we look at one more psalm to finish our series on gladness. It’s Psalm 16, and it’s a psalm about trust. David, who wrote this psalm, seems to have a unique relationship with God – one that’s grounded in an unshakable trust. That trust then gives way to joy and gladness because David knows that his portion and his lot in life are secure. Not only does God hold all of David’s past, but He also holds all of David’s present and future.

The Gospel Project for Kids continues to follow the life of Solomon this week but gives another story of sin and its result. Solomon, with his God granted wisdom, still made many mistakes. Solomon had married many foreign women and was led away from worship of the one true God to follow the gods of his foreign wives. Jeroboam, one …

Our spring worship takes us to five Psalms that paint a picture of God’s people finding joy in the middle of all life gives us.  When we take a step back from our relentless pace, we look back to see God’s goodness to us.  And he is good!  So good, in fact, that if we gaze at how good he is, we will burst with tears of joy.  And that pause, that kind of joy, gets us ready to live into the future God lays out for us.  

This week the tables turn a bit. Instead of celebrating how God makes us glad, we’ll wander through creation and wonder how all of creation makes God glad.  Why did God create the universe, the earth, the sky, the sea, even a three-toed sloth called an ai?